Since the Last Time We Met (2023)

🖋️ Plot Summary

Since the Last Time We Met is a poignant, slow-burning love story that navigates the delicate terrain of chance, choice, and the moments that slip away.

The film follows Daniel (Andrew Scott), a literature professor in London, who unexpectedly reunites with Thomas (Matt Bomer), his once-secret lover from two decades earlier. The two encounter each other at a book reading, where time hasn’t dulled their chemistry—but life has complicated it.

Through a series of flashbacks and present-day interactions, we learn how their youthful passion was stifled by fear, societal expectations, and personal regrets. Now older, more settled, and seemingly on different paths, Daniel and Thomas are forced to confront the love that never quite disappeared—and the pain that never fully healed.

🎬 Artistic Direction

Director Luca Martinelli brings an almost ethereal beauty to the film. The cinematography leans on soft lighting, overcast skies, and intimate indoor settings—reflecting the emotional undercurrents of longing and nostalgia. Scenes unfold slowly, with lingering silences and stolen glances doing much of the storytelling.

The score—composed with subtle piano motifs and ambient strings—acts like a heartbeat, growing louder in moments of tension and fading into quiet resignation when words fail. The visual storytelling is enhanced by the use of mirrors, doorways, and trains—symbols of duality, transitions, and missed connections.

🎭 Performances

Andrew Scott delivers a performance filled with vulnerability and restraint. His Daniel is quietly haunted, with sadness tucked behind every smile. Matt Bomer’s portrayal of Thomas is equally layered—he plays a man who outwardly has it all, yet visibly crumbles when faced with what might have been.

Their chemistry is electric, understated, and heartbreakingly authentic. Supporting performances by Ruth Wilson (as Daniel’s friend and emotional anchor) and Jonathan Bailey (as Thomas’s current partner) add further complexity to a love story tangled in time.

💔 Emotional Impact

This isn’t a tale of grand gestures. It’s a whisper of a story—about the tenderness of what we leave unsaid, the weight of paths not taken, and the courage it takes to revisit old wounds. The film doesn’t promise closure or fairy-tale endings. Instead, it offers truth: that love can be real, even if it’s never fully realized.

There’s a quiet moment at the end—no dialogue, just a look—that encapsulates the entire film’s emotional gravity. You don’t leave the theater crying loudly; you leave with your chest full of silent ache.